"There are strong indications that there is a 12-inch product coming down the pipeline," Rhoda Alexander, who directs IHS Technology's monitor and tablet research, said, referring to Microsoft's Surface product line.

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And it's not clear to Alexander what the branding will be. Rumors indicated today that a product -- which may or may not be the 12-inch device -- could launch as the Surface Pro 3.

With a larger Surface, Microsoft could be making a bigger play for the productivity market. Business customers often prefer bigger displays, particularly when using a mouse and keyboard. All Surface tablet products come with the option for a snap-on keyboard with an integrated touchpad.

CNET also learned last week that a new Surface Pro (again, it's not clear if that would the 12-inch model) may use an updated "power-optimized" Haswell processor, not a more power-efficient (but slower) Atom processor.

To date, Surface Pro models have used Intel processors exclusively. The latest Surface Pro 2, for example, uses an Intel Core i5-4300U processor, which is a Haswell chip.

Regarding the smaller Surface Mini, Alexander said she expects a 7.5-inch device.

About the author

Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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